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Simon
Simon & Garfunkel are an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They are well known for songs such as "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson" (from The Graduate soundtrack), and "Bridge Over Troubled Water", and they are often regarded as one of the best artists of the folk rock genre, if not any genre. They were also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, as well as having won several Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. History Before "Simon & Garfunkel" Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel knew each other from an early age, when they performed together at their school in Queens, New York. They wrote their first original song in high school, but it was never recorded. They were signed to their first record company in 1957 at the ages of 15 by Sid Prosen, owner of the independent record label Big Records after overhearing them recording their original song "Hey Schoolgirl". "Hey Schoolgirl" was released as a single and became very popular on radio stations, but Simon & Garfunkel - going by the name of Tom & Jerry at the time - split up in 1958 due to other failed singles. They both continued to record solo under various record labels and aliases (See Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel). In 1963, the duo regrouped, and now, under the name Kane & Garr began performing at Gerde's Folk City, a club in Greenwich where they performed three new songs: "Sparrow", "He Was My Brother", and "The Sound of Silence". It was here that they gained the attention of Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson, and they were later signed to the company. Only now did they adopt the name Simon & Garfunkel. Studio Years as Simon & Garfunkel Now signed to Columbia Records, Simon & Garfunkel recorded their first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. in 1964, but it was not a commercial success, and once again, Simon & Garfunkel broke up. While Art Garfunkel remained in the United States, Paul Simon moved to London and recorded his début solo album The Paul Simon Songbook. Meanwhile and unbeknownst to both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, the song "The Sound of Silence" from their début album was gaining traction along the east coast of the united states, particularly a remix of the song made by their Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson, who had overdubbed electric instrumentation using studio musicians. When they became aware of their newfound popularity, Simon & Garfunkel quickly reunited to record another album, Sounds of Silence, which included the overdubbed version of "The Sound of Silence" as well as some remakes of songs from The Paul Simon Songbook. "The Sound of Silence", "Homeward Bound", and "I Am A Rock" were all released as singles from this album (Homeward Bound was featured on the British release of the album). After that, they took their time to record their next album, with focus on production, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme was released in late 1966. The American version of this album features "Homeward Bound". "A Hazy Shade of Winter", "At The Zoo", and "Fakin' It" were also recorded and released as singles around this time, later to be featured on Bookends. While Paul Simon was experiencing writer's block in the process of creating their next album, film director Mike Nichols, who was filming The Graduate at the time had become fascinated with Simon & Garfunkel's music and reached out to Columbia records hoping to license some Simon & Garfunkel music for his film. Simon & Garfunkel and Columbia chairman Clive Davis agreed and Paul Simon wrote the new song "Mrs. Robinson", which was included in the soundtrack. Their fourth album, Bookends was finally released in early 1968 and quickly climbed to the top of the album charts, reaching #1, and "Mrs. Robinson" was released as the lead single, which was also a major hit. Art Garfunkel began pursuing an acting career in 1969 and took 8 months in the filming of Catch-22, so as soon as filming was complete, Simon & Garfunkel quickly reunited and recorded what would be their final album, and Bridge Over Troubled Water was released in January 1970 to become the best-selling album of all time until that record was later beaten. They went on one final tour in England before going their separate ways in late 1970, but they have gotten back together on various occasions after this. After Breakup The first time Simon & Garfunkel got back together since their breakup was in 1972 for a benefit concert for presidential candidate George McGovern in Madison Square Garden. They later met up in 1975 when visiting a recording session with John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, which produced the song "My Little Town", and this was released as a single as well as appearing on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years and Garfunkel's Breakaway. Later that year, they performed three songs together on Saturday Night Live, and a couple other performances followed that in the late '70s. Paul Simon also joined Art Garfunkel and James Taylor in the recording of a cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" in 1977, which was released as a single and featured on Garfunkel's Watermark album. Simon & Garfunkel's most famous convergence, however, was for the 1981 free concert in Central Park, New York, which achieved the record for the largest concert attendance in history (this record was also later beaten), and also yielded the live album The Concert in Central Park. They proceeded to go on a world tour in 1982. They did not perform together again until 1990, when they performed three songs at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and they went went on an international tour in 1993. Another 10 years and they were selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards Ceremony, where they performed "The Sound of Silence", and they followed this up with the Old Friends Tour in 2003, ending in a free concert in front of the Colosseum that beat even their Concert in Central Park in attendance numbers. The recording of this tour, Old Friends, Live on Stage was also released as a live album. A couple minor meetups occurred after this, and in 2009 they went on a reunion tour of Australia and Asia and performed five songs at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert. They performed together again at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2010, but Art Garfunkel was experiencing vocal problems at the time. He has fully recovered since. In 2018, Paul Simon announced his retirement from touring, so another Simon & Garfunkel performance together is very unlikely. Discography Albums & Singles Songs In alphabetical order: #''' * [[7 O' Clock News/Silent Night|'''7 O' Clock News/Silent Night]] A''' * [[A Church is Burning|'''A Church is Burning]] * [[A Hazy Shade of Winter|'A Hazy Shade of Winter']] * [[America (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'America']] * [[A Most Peculiar Man|'A Most Peculiar Man']] * [[Anji|'Anji']] * [[A Poem On The Underground Wall|'A Poem On The Underground Wall']] * [[April Come She Will|'April Come She Will']] * [[A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)|'A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)']] * [[At The Zoo|'At The Zoo']] B''' * [[Baby Driver|'''Baby Driver]] * [[Benedictus|'Benedictus']] * [[Bleecker Street|'Bleecker Street']] * [[Blessed (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Blessed']] * [[Bookends Theme|'Bookends Theme']] * [[Bridge Over Troubled Water (Song)|'Bridge Over Troubled Water']] * [[Bye Bye Love|'Bye Bye Love']] C''' * [[Cecilia|'''Cecilia]] * [[Cloudy (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Cloudy']] E''' * [[El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)|'''El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)]] F''' * [[Fakin' It (Simon & Garfunkel)|'''Fakin' It]] * [[Feuilles-O|'Feuilles-O']] * [[Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall|'Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall']] * [[For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her|'For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her']] G''' * [[Go Tell It On The Mountain|'''Go Tell It On The Mountain]] H''' * [[He Was My Brother|'''He Was My Brother]] * [[Hey Schoolgirl|'Hey Schoolgirl']] * [[Homeward Bound|'Homeward Bound']] I''' * [[I Am A Rock|'''I Am A Rock]] K''' * [[Kathy's Song|'''Kathy's Song]] * [[Keep The Customer Satisfied|'Keep The Customer Satisfied']] L''' * [[Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream|'''Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream]] * [[Leaves That Are Green|'Leaves That Are Green']] M''' * [[Mrs. Robinson|'''Mrs. Robinson]] * [[My Little Town|'My Little Town']] O''' * [[Old Friends (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'''Old Friends]] * [[Overs (Simon & Garfunkel)|'Overs']] P''' * [[Patterns |'''Patterns]] * [[Peggy-O|'Peggy-O']] * [[Punky's Dilemma|'Punky's Dilemma']] R''' * [[Richard Cory|'''Richard Cory]] S''' * [[Save The Life of My Child|'''Save The Life of My Child]] * [[Scarborough Fair/Canticle|'Scarborough Fair/Canticle']] * [[So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright|'So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright']] * [[Somewhere They Can't Find Me|'Somewhere They Can't Find Me']] * [[Song for The Asking|'Song for The Asking']] * [[Sparrow (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Sparrow']] The * [[The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)|'The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)']] * [[The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine|'The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine']] * [[The Boxer|'The Boxer']] * [[The Dangling Conversation|'The Dangling Conversation']] * [[The Only Living Boy in New York|'The Only Living Boy in New York']] * [[The Sound of Silence|'The Sound of Silence']] * [[The Sun is Burning|'The Sun is Burning']] * [[The Times They Are A-Changin'|'The Times They Are A-Changin]] '''V' * [[Voices of Old People|'Voices of Old People']] W''' * [[Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (Song)|'''Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.]] * [[We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'|'We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin]] * [[Why Don't You Write Me|'Why Don't You Write Me']] '''Y' * [[You Can Tell The World|'You Can Tell The World']] * [[You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies|'You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies']] By album: Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. * [[You Can Tell The World|'You Can Tell The World']] * [[Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream|'Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream']] * [[Bleecker Street|'Bleecker Street']] * [[Sparrow (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Sparrow']] * [[Benedictus|'Benedictus']] * [[The Sound of Silence|'The Sounds of Silence']] * [[He Was My Brother|'He Was My Brother']] * [[Peggy-O|'Peggy-O']] * [[Go Tell It On The Mountain|'Go Tell It On The Mountain']] * [[The Sun is Burning|'The Sun is Burning']] * [[The Times They Are A-Changin'|'The Times They Are A-Changin]] * [[Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (Song)|'Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.]] ''Sounds of Silence'' * [[The Sound of Silence|'''The Sounds of Silence]] * [[Leaves That Are Green|'Leaves That Are Green']] * [[Blessed (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Blessed']] * [[Kathy's Song|'Kathy's Song']] * [[Somewhere They Can't Find Me|'Somewhere They Can't Find Me']] * [[Anji|'Anji']] * [[Richard Cory|'Richard Cory']] * [[A Most Peculiar Man|'A Most Peculiar Man']] * [[April Come She Will|'April Come She Will']] * [[We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'|'We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin]] * [[I Am A Rock|'I Am A Rock']] 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme' * [[Scarborough Fair/Canticle|'Scarborough Fair/Canticle']] * [[Patterns |'Patterns']] * [[Cloudy (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Cloudy']] * [[Homeward Bound|'Homeward Bound']] * [[The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine|'The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine']] * [[The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)|'The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)]] * [[The Dangling Conversation|'''The Dangling Conversation]] * [[Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall|'Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall']] * [[A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)|'A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)']] * [[For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her|'For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her']] * [[A Poem On The Underground Wall|'A Poem On The Underground Wall']] * [[7 O' Clock News/Silent Night|'7 O' Clock News/Silent Night']] Bookends * [[Bookends Theme|'Bookends Theme']]' (Instrumental)' * [[Save The Life of My Child|'Save The Life of My Child']] * [[America (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'America']] * [[Overs (Simon & Garfunkel)|'Overs']] * [[Voices of Old People|'Voices of Old People']] * [[Old Friends (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Old Friends']] * [[Bookends Theme|'Bookends Theme']] * [[Fakin' It (Simon & Garfunkel)|'Fakin' It']] * [[Punky's Dilemma|'Punky's Dilemma']] * [[Mrs. Robinson|'Mrs. Robinson']] * [[A Hazy Shade of Winter|'A Hazy Shade of Winter']] * [[At The Zoo|'At The Zoo']] Bridge Over Troubled Water * [[Bridge Over Troubled Water (Song)|'Bridge Over Troubled Water']] * [[El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)|'El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)']] * [[Cecilia|'Cecilia']] * [[Keep The Customer Satisfied|'Keep The Customer Satisfied']] * [[So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright|'So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright']] * [[The Boxer|'The Boxer']] * [[Baby Driver|'Baby Driver']] * [[The Only Living Boy in New York|'The Only Living Boy in New York']] * [[Why Don't You Write Me|'Why Don't You Write Me']] * [[Bye Bye Love|'Bye Bye Love']] * [[Song for The Asking|'Song for The Asking']] By popularity: 1-10 * [[The Sound of Silence|'The Sound of Silence']] * [[The Boxer|'The Boxer']] * [[Homeward Bound|'Homeward Bound']] * [[Mrs. Robinson|'Mrs. Robinson']] * [[America (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'America']] * [[Bridge Over Troubled Water (Song)|'Bridge Over Troubled Water']] * [[Scarborough Fair/Canticle|'Scarborough Fair/Canticle']] * [[I Am A Rock|'I Am A Rock']] * [[Cecilia|'Cecilia']] * [[The Only Living Boy in New York|'The Only Living Boy in New York']] 11-20 * [[April Come She Will|'April Come She Will']] * [[Kathy's Song|'Kathy's Song']] * [[El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)|'El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)']] * [[A Hazy Shade of Winter|'A Hazy Shade of Winter']] * [[Bookends Theme|'Bookends Theme']] * [[The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)|'The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)']] * [[For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her|'For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her']] * [[Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall|'Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall']] * [[Leaves That Are Green|'Leaves That Are Green']] * [[The Dangling Conversation|'The Dangling Conversation']] 21-40 * [[Bleecker Street|'Bleecker Street']] * [[Keep The Customer Satisfied|'Keep The Customer Satisfied']] * [[At The Zoo|'At The Zoo']] * [[Bye Bye Love|'Bye Bye Love']] * [[Fakin' It (Simon & Garfunkel)|'Fakin' It']] * [[Cloudy (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Cloudy']] * [[Baby Driver|'Baby Driver']] * [[The Times They Are A-Changin'|'The Times They Are A-Changin]] * [[Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. (Song)|'Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.]] * [[A Poem On The Underground Wall|'''A Poem On The Underground Wall]] * [[Old Friends (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Old Friends']] * [[Song for The Asking|'Song for The Asking']] * [[The Sun is Burning|'The Sun is Burning']] * [[My Little Town|'My Little Town']] * [[7 O' Clock News/Silent Night|'7 O' Clock News/Silent Night']] * [[Anji|'Anji']] * [[Patterns |'Patterns']] * [[Peggy-O|'Peggy-O']] * [[Richard Cory|'Richard Cory']] * [[Punky's Dilemma|'Punky's Dilemma']] 41-51 * [[Somewhere They Can't Find Me|'Somewhere They Can't Find Me']] * [[He Was My Brother|'He Was My Brother']] * [[So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright|'So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright']] * [[We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin'|'We've Got A Groovey Thing Goin]] * [[Overs (Simon & Garfunkel)|'Overs']] * [[Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream|'Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream']] * [[Hey Schoolgirl|'Hey Schoolgirl']] * [[Why Don't You Write Me|'Why Don't You Write Me']] * [[You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies|'You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies']] * [[Go Tell It On The Mountain|'Go Tell It On The Mountain']] * [[Voices of Old People|'Voices of Old People']] * [[Blessed (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Blessed']] * [[Save The Life of My Child|'Save The Life of My Child']] * [[Feuilles-O|'Feuilles-O']] * [[A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)|'A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)]] * [[Benedictus|'''Benedictus]] * [[The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine|'The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine']] * [[Sparrow (Simon & Garfunkel Song)|'Sparrow']] * [[You Can Tell The World|'You Can Tell The World']] * [[A Most Peculiar Man|'A Most Peculiar Man']] * [[A Church is Burning|'A Church is Burning']] Trivia * At one point, Simon & Garfunkel secretly recorded a lecture given to them by Columbia Records chairman Clive Davis as a practical joke. Related Artists * [[Paul Simon|'Paul Simon']] * [[Art Garfunkel|'Art Garfunkel']] * [[Gordon Lightfoot|'Gordon Lightfoot']] * [[The Beatles|'The Beatles']] Category:Duos Category:Folk Rock Artists